


zero-sum game

by tanyart



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Choking (implied), Ficlet, M/M, Neck Kissing, Season of the Hunt, Stasis Play
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:01:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27552724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tanyart/pseuds/tanyart
Summary: "Personally, I like to keep my options open."
Relationships: The Drifter/Shin Malphur
Comments: 8
Kudos: 89





	zero-sum game

**Author's Note:**

> haha wow those [calamity rig gauntlets](https://www.ishtar-collective.net/entries/calamity-rig-gauntlets), am i right

The world comes back to Drifter in slow pieces. His eyes are open but useless, unable to comprehend the murky shadows wavering in his vision. There’s a ringing in his ears. He’s gasping for air. Each desperate breath drowns out the ringing. If Drifter were more himself, he would’ve burned with embarrassment.

The first real sensation he registers is the pressure over his throat then — even more slowly, nearly painful — the unwinding tension as his body goes slack. Air floods into his starved lungs, and it’s _good_. The cold seeping into his skin, the biting chill in his chest, oxygenated blood finally going to his head. He shivers. Everything about it is good. So good that even the taste of air is dizzyingly. When he exhales, it comes out as a low, satisfied moan.

Seconds pass. Maybe a minute, at most. Drifter doesn’t want to think about how long he lays there in a contented stupor.

The pressure over his throat is more of a touch now. Drifter blinks, gaining some sense back. Even before his hazy vision clears, he knows it’s Shin hovering over him. Probably too close for comfort, but Drifter can’t be bothered to pull away. Shin’s hand is colder than the air, the sharp power of Stasis prickling over Drifter’s skin every time Shin’s thumb idly rubs at the hollow of his throat.

It’s nothing like the cold throb of Void. No chasm or emptiness, waiting to be filled. Shin’s fingers are light, but every movement feels like the drag of an icy needle. Precise. Deliberate. Shin wields Stasis like one of his guns.

It suits Shin. More than Void. Maybe more than Solar.

_More than the Light?_

Drifter groans, shaking the thought away. It’s not Darkness _or_ Light anymore. Anybody that sticks with just the one is a damned fool.

“You’re gettin’ good with that,” he manages to say. His voice is rough, grating up his esophagus, words manifesting as swirling puffs in the air.

“Thanks.”

“Appreciate you not turning my head into an ice cube.”

“You’re welcome.” Shin’s eyes glitter. Could be from the weak lamp in the corner. Could be from Stasis. He doesn’t move, straddled over Drifter’s waist. Either he took care of himself while Drifter was checked out, or he was doing a brother a favor.

But his hand is still over Drifter’s neck. Still cold.

Drifter swallows, just so that Shin can feel it under his palm. His lip curls. “Could’ve snapped it clean off.”

Shin’s hand tightens around his neck and Drifter can’t help but tip his chin up, somewhere between a small flinch and an eager invitation.

“Amazing. It’s like I didn’t even choke you,” Shin grumbles, leaning down.

“Didn’t go as hard as you could’ve, I guess,” Drifter breathes, more from his own volition and anticipation. Shin doesn’t press down, and Drifter is left staring up at the ceiling as Shin’s hair brushes against his cheek.

The icy kiss at his throat comes as a small shock of its own, even without the help of Stasis. Drifter flinches back, a real proper flinch this time, and Shin’s hand cups the other side of his neck, keeping him still. It shouldn’t be as good as the vice grip from moments ago, but Drifter shuts up like it is. Tilts his head in the same way too. Shin breathes into his neck, a line of crystalline frost between his mouth and Drifter’s skin.

It’s gentle, even if it’s not soft. Shin’s next kiss brushes the lingering Stasis away, and the playful bite drives ice back into Drifter’s veins. No need for any Stasis there, but Drifter can feel Shin’s smile as the Stasis around them dissipates.

At his neck, Shin’s mouth grows warm with Solar energy.

“You done already?” Drifter grunts. He unclenches one hand from the sheets to hold onto Shin’s wrist. It’s half an accident when his hand slides up to curl around Shin’s fingers, and Drifter decides this isn’t an internal argument he wants to have with himself yet.

“Are _you_?” Shin asks, lifting his head to look at him.

So it wasn’t the glitter of Stasis in his eyes, Drifter thinks dumbly. Just the lamplight. And whatever thoughts had been going on in his head.

Drifter shivers. Shin’s palm at his jaw is getting warm again, and that’s a damned hard thing to say no to.

“Warm me up first,” he says.


End file.
